HUGE PROJECTS THAT SHAPE THE LANDSCAPE OF THE CITY

By ALAN S. OSER

Published: May 10, 1987

THE term ''mega,'' deriving from the Greek word for large or great, surely seems the appropriate prefix to use for some New York City development projects.

There is probably a larger concentration of what may fairly be called megaprojects in New York - in dollars involved, amount of square footage created and the time it takes to get to the groundbreaking stage - than in any other city in the world. Outstanding among them are three that have claimed wide public attention:

* Battery Park City, a veritable city-within-a-city on 92 acres of landfill on the Hudson River in lower Manhattan, conceived 20 years ago and now in full-tilt construction.

* The 42d Street Development Project, or the Times Square redevelopment, an effort to rebuild 13 acres in the heart of midtown Manhattan.

* Television City, the Trump Organization's 76-acre development site on former rail yards along the Hudson River in west midtown Manhattan, where Donald Trump hopes to build the world's tallest building.

The Times Square and Television City megaprojects are now in the midst of the unpredictable development phase in which such undertakings are made or broken, leaving New Yorkers with the attitude that they will ''believe it when they see it.'' Television City is a purely private venture, while the Times Square plan is a test of government's ability to follow through in a volatile political environment with a long-term redevelopment scheme that has an important public purpose - downtown revitalization.

Years pass before plans for megaprojects clear their environmental reviews, consideration before community boards - which in theory have advisory powers only - and governmental bodies, and then surmount legal challenges. All this is apart from the complex project planning itself. In New York City, the rule of thumb for megaprojects is that the preconstruction stage will take 5 to 10 years.

The Times Square redevelopment plan, for example, officially began in 1980 with a memorandum of understanding between the city and the state. By using the special powers of the State Urban Development Corporation, the city hoped it could move the project faster. Vincent Tese, the U.D.C.'s president, said this spring that he was optimistic that after a nine-month condemnation period, general construction can begin next spring and run five years.

The project will be on 13 acres - the two blocks on West 42d Street between Eighth Avenue and Broadway, the east side of Broadway from West 42d Street to West 43d Street, and the east side of Eighth Avenue from West 40th Street to West 43d Street. There are to be four new office towers with 4.1 million square feet of space, connected underground by a new concourse for the Times Square subway station; a 2.4 million-square-foot New York Trade Mart, and a 750-room hotel with retail and mixed-use facilities. The plan also calls for the restoration of nine turn-of-the-century theaters on 42d Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues.

Up to 10 years is what Julien J. Studley is ready for at a megaproject called Hudson River Center, according to Ellen Schreiber, the project manager. ''Julien once looked around in a meeting,'' she recalled, ''and said, 'Look at my team and you will see that I have chosen young partners.' ''

His project is conceived as a $636 million development atop a platform resting on piles sunk deep into the river. The 3.3 million square feet of space is to include a million-square-foot city car pound for towed-away vehicles and 2 million square feet of mixed-use space - up to 1,560 hotel rooms, 700,000 square feet of condominiums, stores, parking, and open space.

When he submitted his first plan in response to a call for proposals by the city, which owns the property, Mr. Studley expected that it would take five years to begin construction if his team were chosen. Now, Ms. Schreiber said, the expectation is seven rather than five.

The city's Public Development Corporation, which is involved in most large-scale mixed-use projects, lists 21 developments that it considers megaprojects. Many are huge office projects on city-owned waterfront property in which the developer, like Mr. Studley, was chosen in a competitive process. IN one nonwaterfront location, the city selected Boston Properties to redevelop the current site of the New York Coliseum on Columbus Circle in west midtown Manhattan. The 2.7-million-square-foot mixed-use project comprises two towers, of 69 and 59 stories, and will be, among other things, the world headquarters of Salomon Brothers, the investment house. The Coliseum was rendered expendable by the city's new Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, another megaproject.

At the toe of Manhattan, South Ferry Associates -a joint venture of Continental Development Group, Worldwide Holdings Corporation, the Zeckendorf Company, Arthur G. Cohen Properties, Zev Wolfson and KG Land - was chosen to build South Ferry Plaza, a 60-story, 1.5 million-square-foot office tower with a new Staten Island ferry terminal below.